Chapter 8
DANI
I startled awake when weight pressed down on me. For a few seconds, I thought Beau and I were still together, and he was interested in sex for the first time in months. It was a shock to realize I preferred it when he ignored me.
I cracked one eye open to stare at the cat making bread on the blanket pulled up to my chest.
“Miss Priss,” I groaned, “I have a very busy day, and I need every minute of sleep I can get. I’m so tired already.”
My cat’s eyes glittered in the faint light of early morning, but her expression conveyed her disinterest in my exhaustion. It took me a long time to fall asleep after I got Beau’s message last night.
Beau: Hey, beautiful. Why don’t I come see you at work tomorrow? I’ve got ideas about our next date, but obviously we’ll wait until your dad feels better.
Tone is hard to convey by text, but this was more conciliatory than his earlier messages, most of which I’d reacted to with emojis or one-word responses.
Me: Thanks. Mom is having a hard time with dad’s setback, so she really needs me.
I hated lying. Hated it! But I hated that he’d been stealing from me and running up bills in my name more.
My parents stayed home to avoid Beau finding out the truth before I was ready, which added to my guilt. Every day, I hoped the lawyer would have good news. The strain of not revealing Beau’s secret and pretending we were still in a relationship kept me in a constant state of anxiety.
Miss Priss butted my chin with her head. She’d always been so in tune with my emotions and knew when I needed comfort.
“Yes, baby, you’re right. Petting you will make me feel better,” I cooed.
My heartbeat calmed as I petted her. She’d been with me since my dad’s injury.
I found her while pacing outside the hospital in desperate need of a break from the sounds of the machines keeping his pain at bay.
Her pitiful meows barely penetrated my heavy thoughts until she ran up to me and pounced.
Flea-bitten, half-starved, and with eyes too big for her head, Miss Priss rescued me as much as I did her. Mom and I both needed something to focus on besides the way our lives had changed, and Miss Priss was delighted to be that distraction.
I should have known he was no good when Beau claimed to like cats, but she took an instant dislike to him.
“Maybe I should put you in charge of my love life,” I mused. “How does that sound, Miss Priss? Will you screen my dates for me?”
Her purr intensified, and I laughed softly.
“You like that idea? Of course you do, you egotistical thing. You always think the world revolves around you.”
Her little chirrup of sound caused me to laugh harder, which made her jiggle where she lay on my chest. Annoyed that I bounced her, the small cat leaped to the other side of the bed where she groomed herself in defiance.
After a shower, I took my laptop, phone, and mug to the screened-in patio. Since the sun was still making its daily debut, I grabbed a light blanket off the chaise and draped it over my lap when I sat down.
With a smile on my face, I set a timer on my phone to make breakfast, and I worked on a new client’s design idea. I was so engrossed that the noise didn’t penetrate immediately. When it finally did, I caught my breath at the sight of the backyard next door.
“Holy shit,” I muttered under my breath.
Wearing nothing but a pair of running shoes and board shorts, Jake was working out in his backyard. He was engaged in some horrible movement involving push-ups and jumping. I couldn’t look away.
His body was a work of art. Since he wasn’t in the army anymore, I didn’t know why he was punishing himself, but I was happy to watch. I’d never seen so many muscles. His body moved with a beautiful fluidity, and I wondered if he’d bring that vitality to the bedroom.
Guilt swamped me. Here I was, drooling over my childhood best friend while dating someone else, if in name only. Ashamed, I quietly gathered my things and fled into the house.
I made breakfast, and then I helped Dad with his physical therapy. Most days, he didn’t need help anymore, but since he hadn’t been doing his neighborhood walks, I worried he’d lose progress.
Afterwards, I couldn’t concentrate. My mind was full of Jake. Hopeful a change of scenery would help, I grabbed my laptop and headed to the diner.
When I got there, someone called my name. I knew most people in town, so that was no surprise. The surprise was who.
“Wait up,” Jake said as he jogged across the parking lot.
He even looks good jogging. Damn, I need to get over this attraction immediately. The last thing I needed was a crush on Jake, especially while I lived next door.
He ran to where I stood next to my car. Those years of physical training paid off. That man was fine.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
I have too many lascivious thoughts in my head, that’s how.
Obviously, I couldn’t say that, so I kept my mouth shut. I’d never struggled for words with Jake, but that was before. I wish I’d never seen him shirtless.
“What are you up to?” Jake leaned against my car and faced me.
If he noticed I was being weird, he didn’t call me on it.
“I’m going to work at Crust & Crumble.”
“You work there, too?” he asked in surprise.
With a laugh, I responded. “No, on my laptop. Sometimes I work better at home, where it’s calm and quiet, and other times, I need people around.”
“Gotcha. Would you mind some company? Or are you on a strict schedule, and I’d interrupt?”
It was refreshing that he got it. Though I worked for myself, my time wasn’t always my own. Beau never understood that. Maybe it was a mistake, but I agreed.
“No, I’ve got time.”
We each ordered a coffee, and I grabbed a muffin. Once a week, I splurged on a coffee and dessert. I alternated between the Crust & Crumble and Wildflower Books.
“Still can’t resist a blueberry muffin, can you?” he teased once we were seated.
“Why would I? Life’s too short to suffer a shortage of baked goods,” I said with a sniff.
He laughed and drank his sad black coffee. This was good. This long-standing joke about my sweet tooth and his utter lack of sweetness would get us back on the footing I understood.
“How can you drink that stuff black?” I asked. “According to Vanessa, the coffee here is quality stuff, but it all tastes gross to me until I add cream and sugar. I prefer my coffee sweet.”
“I’m plenty sweet on my own.”
Someone must have turned up the thermostat because I broke out in a sweat at those words.
“Who’s this? Does Beau know you’re cheating on him?”
Camille Smith threw me a dirty look before she thrust her ample chest in Jake’s direction. She and Beau had a thing before I moved back, and she’s hated me since he and I got together. She could have him.
“Hello, handsome. You must be new in town. You don’t need this loser. I can show you all the best sights.”
Camille bit her lip on the last word as she ran her eyes up and down his fit body. Her fingers played with the top button of her low-cut shirt as if we were at a nightclub instead of a small-town bakery.
“Camille, leave before you embarrass yourself further,” Jake said in a cold voice I’d never heard. “I wasn’t interested a decade ago, and I’m less interested now.”
The color leached from her face.
“Jacob Brown?”
“Good, you remember. We’re done now.”
Camille fled, and I gaped at him.
“How do you know Camille? Did you two date or something after I left?”
Don’t make a face if he and Camille had a thing.
He recoiled in horror.
“God, no.” He ran a hand through his hair.
“No, she and Katelyn were frenemies. After Katelyn lied about being pregnant, and I broke up with her over it, Camille tried to ‘comfort me.’ When I rejected her, she spread the lie that Katelyn was pregnant. My dad found out, which led to our big fight the night he put me in the hospital.”
“That’s horrible.” I was aghast. “I’m so sorry.”
“It sucked, but things are good now.”
“We’re both back in Sierra Rose Ridge, together again. Plus, I get to rub it in your face that I was right about Katelyn all along.”
That wasn’t what I wanted to say, but too much time had passed, and his eyes had that haunted look again.
He groaned. “How long have you waited to say ‘I told you so’?”
I hadn’t thought that, but I cackled like a wicked queen for his amusement. The heaviness in my heart lifted when his eyes crinkled at the corners the way they did when something pleased him.
“I don’t know,” I teased. “How long has it been since I told you not to date the bitch who terrorized me all through tenth grade? What were you thinking?”
His laughter rang out, and the ovaries of every woman in the place spontaneously burst into song and dance.
“You’re a menace,” he said fondly.
“Hey, you picked me. You have no one to blame but yourself.”